He goes silent, and her muffled cries grow louder while her small body tries to fight me.
“The Lords sent us to collect you,” Miles goes on. “Either you’re here in an hour or your sister is dead like your mother.” He hangs up the phone and turns it off, tossing it into the vase filled with red roses on the end table by the couch.
I get up off her and make it back to where I was sitting across from her on the coffee table. I watch her slowly get up and try to stretch her arms that are still tied behind her back.
“Don’t worry,” Miles begins, walking behind the couch. He pulls back the slide, cocking his gun, and her body trembles at the sound. “If he doesn’t come to your rescue, we’ll show you mercy and make it quick.” He grips her hair, yanking her head back, and pushes the end of the barrel into her temple.
She’s gasping for breath, her black mascara running down her face. “Please … I didn’t do anything.” I watch her neck work as she swallows.
I get up, and she must hear my movement because she starts thrashing around on the couch, trying to get up and see what I’m doing, but Miles has her head pinned to the cushion by her hair. I open the bag we brought and remove what I need.
Walking back over to her, I fall down onto the couch, straddling her legs, making her scream at the top of her lungs for anyone to help her. But no one is coming. I know it, and she knows it.
She’ll die tonight for her piece of shit brother. He’s willing to kill others to be initiated into the Lords, but he’ll willingly let his family die for his mistakes. He’s a fucking coward.
“Please …” she sobs, her small body trying to throw me off of her but it’s useless.
I shove the cloth into her mouth, silencing her, and then I rip off the duct tape, tearing it with my teeth, and roughly place it over her lips. Her tear-filled eyes meet mine and the life fades out of them, knowing it’s over. Nothing is worse than not being able to plead your case. Especially when you’re innocent. She’ll have less than an hour to come to terms with facing her death.
Getting up, I find myself wandering over to the fireplace to look over the pictures that sit in various sized frames of her and her mother. Not a single one has a father figure in it. Or her brother.
I’m not surprised. There’s a reason he isn’t going to return to try to save anyone in this house. But I’m still in initiation and I must do what is required of me. I won’t go soft to save someone else’s ass. Not when mine’s on the line.
“Fuck!” I hear Miles hiss behind me.
I turn to see he had taken his eyes off of her for a second and she got up off the couch to run. He grips her hair and yanks her back into him. Her feet come up off the floor as she kicks them out, fighting him with all she has.
“Goddammit,” he growls, throwing her face down on the floor next to her mother’s body. “Fucking bitch.” He falls to straddle her back, grips her hair, and yanks her head up off the marble.
Her bloodshot eyes met mine while she tries to breathe through her nose.
“I was going to make it quick.” He grabs his pocketknife out of his jeans and flips it open. He places it against her neck, pushing it into her skin, and she closes her eyes tightly. Her face scrunching as blood trails down her neck. “Now I’m going to take my time. Split this little body of yours open one slice at a time. You’ll be begging for us to kill you soon.”
Looking over, I see her ruined cell phone while it sits in the water at the bottom of the vase. I walk toward them and kneel, pulling mine out. “Look at me,” I command.
She opens her eyes, her wet lashes clumped together from the makeup she had on when we arrived. I take a picture of her once more, making sure not to get Miles’s face.
“Just a little something for us to jack off to later.” Miles laughs, reaching around with his free hand and pinching off her nose, making her buck wildly underneath him.
I pull up the phone number in my cell and send the picture, knowing it will get the reaction that I want.
THREE
TYSON
INITIATION
Commitment
Junior year at Barrington University
Isit tucked back in the dark corner of the hotel room when I hear the door open. A woman giggles followed by a man’s voice. “You’re so sexy.” He sounds in awe of her. Like it’s impossible he could ever have a woman her age be interested in him.
He’s right.
But men get stupid when they see a pretty face with tits and an ass. I picked the perfect one for this job.
“Make me a drink?” she slurs. Sounds like she’s already had too many.
